In most known machines for this purpose, the driving head is operated by an air turbine and it is adapted to be manually lowered, raised and tracted in all directions, to reach any point (within practical limits) of a stationary work piece. The inserts are also manually threaded on the spindle, one by one, and wetted, e.g. by means of a small brush, with a special adhesive fluid (known under the Trade Name "Locktite"), which is necessary for the safe setting of the insert.
This method is relatively slow and, besides, it causes considerable waste of the extremely expensive adhesive fluid.
There have been designed and used insert installing machines with automatic insert feeding and loading devices. However such machines, without exception, still have the characteristics of conventional drilling machines, namely that the installing head reciprocates along a fixed vertical axis. This means that each bore of the work has first to be brought into alignment with the axis of the spindle, a matter which is highly inconvenient in its own regard, and renders the machine impracticable in cases where large or heavy work pieces are to be processed.